Generally, this application relates to teachings for producing dispensing components for flexible packaging and specifically for liners designed to be placed inside metal urns that dispense beverages at restaurants and convenience stores.
An example of an urn liner is shown in FIG. 1. The liner 10 is a flexible polyethylene liner or bag with a fitment or spout 14 aligned with a hole in the bag and a soft, flexible tube 18 extending from the fitment 14. The fitment 14 includes a flange 16 that may be connected, for example, by heat sealing, to the inside of the liner bag 10. The spout 14 may further include an adapter 20 connected thereto. The flexible tube 18 is then slidingly inserted onto a lumen extending from the spout 14 or the adapter 20. The bag 10 is placed inside a beverage urn and the flexible tube 18 is inserted into a spigot attached to the urn and extended out the mouth of the spigot. The spigot can be adjusted to a “closed” position in which it pinches the tube 18 shut and prevents the flow of liquid through the tube 18. The spigot can also be adjusted to an “open” position that allows the tube 18 to flex back to its open state such that liquid can flow through the tube 18.
Once the bag 10 is placed in the urn and the tube 18 is inserted into the spigot, the bag 10 is filled with a liquid beverage such as iced tea. The liquid is dispensed through the tube 18 by adjusting the spigot to allow the liquid to flow out of the tube 18. Examples of beverage dispensing systems are shown U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,116,467 and 8,752,734, which are incorporated by reference.
The spout 14 and dispensing tube 18 are typically made of different materials and made separately. The spout 14 and/or adapter 20 of the urn liner is typically made of a stiffer polyethylene that is suitable for being heat sealed to the polyethylene film from which the liner bag 10 is made. The dispensing tube 18, however, is typically made of a more flexible thermoplastic elastomer material such as styrene ethylene butylene styrene (SEBS) or styrene butadiene styrene (SBS). SEBS and SBS are commonly known as Kraton polymers. These elastic materials provide the tube with elastic recovery properties that allow the tube to flex back and recover its shape after being pinched off time and again by the spigot.
It can involve significant production costs to separately extrude a flexible tube and spout out of different materials and then have to assemble the dispensing system by inserting the tube onto the spout or an adapter for the spout.